The Opposites Conundrum
by elusivemuse
Summary: Hallie Owens moved into 4C while Sheldon and friends were in the Arctic. Although on friendly terms, Sheldon delivers a bombshell that will change the course of their friendship forever. Sheldon/OC Leonard/Penny
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I'm back for a change. Sheldon's a little different in this because I found his character really hard to replicate. I needed to give him a few more social skills. Anyway, I don't own Big Bang Theory. Please read and review**

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><p>His lips were the first thing she had ever noticed about him. To Hallie, they looked crooked; however that was part of the charm. What captivated her most was how velvety they looked. In all honesty, she would bet that they were just as soft as a feather. Rather tall and lean, Sheldon towered over her petite frame. She was attracted to a man who could simply look powerful by standing next to her.<p>

Then he opened his mouth.

Although he was a bit awkward, and not at all as powerful as he seemed when silent, she enjoyed his affronted exclamations and arrogantly imparted knowledge. It made things interesting. Becoming his and Leonard's roommate in 4C was probably the best experience she had ever had…which was something that disturbed her greatly.

It didn't say anything nice about all the roommates, neighbours or acquaintances that she had before the present.

Walking up the stairs with paper bags filled with groceries, Hallie occasionally tripped on the long length of her gauzy teal coloured gypsy skirt. The occasional halt to curse at her clothing choice did not stop her from musing more on her strangely attractive neighbour. He wasn't what she normally went for, the almost jock like male, instead, he was the geeky weird guy who had attractive looks but never emphasised them. It was a real shame, though, he would have looked stunning in a pair of tailored trousers and a well-fitting button down dress shirt, rather than the superhero shirts she was so used to seeing him in.

Stepping on the hem of her skirt, she fell to her knees, right in front of the door of her neighbours. Tins and vegetables scattered everywhere, spreading all over the small hall. Cursing under her breath, Hallie crawled around on her knees, gathering her shopping as quickly as possible, not noticing that the door of 4A opening.

Unaware of unintentionally shaking her rear at the neighbour who consumed her thoughts, Hallie reached for a tin. A throat cleared from behind her. Jumping, startled, she twisted around and spotted Sheldon leaning against the door frame. Frowning, it occurred to her that he was acting somewhat strange…had she ever recalled him leaning against something before? Blushing, she sat up on her knees, adjusting the straps of her black singlet to a more appropriate position.

"Um, Sheldon…hi," she smiled softly, placing the few items she had collected back into one of the bags.

"Hallie," he said blandly. She never knew what he was thinking when he spoke like that.

"I guess I look pretty silly down here, huh?" she laughed a little, tucking a wavy brown lock of hair behind her ear.

"On the contrary, it's completely logical for you to be on the floor after tumbling on the last step. What I don't understand is why you didn't get your bag of groceries properly packed before you left the supermarket. You should write a complaint about that…perhaps things wouldn't go everywhere over the hall the next time you fall."

Flushing, Hallie gathered the last few items and placed them in her bag. Lately Sheldon had started to seem more…open to social interactions, or at least a little more bearable. "How can I help you today, Sheldon?" she asked, bending to pick up her bags.

"Help me? Oh I highly doubt that. You'd need to have a higher IQ score to ever be able to help me with my work," he replied, obviously thinking she was referring to his work.

"That's….not what I meant…," she said softly. "Is there anything you wanted to discuss or something? I didn't mean to interrupt anything by falling just before."

"I made tea," Sheldon stated. It hadn't been long since Hallie learned that his words had a literal meaning rather than a figurative one. Rather, it meant that he made himself tea, and that it was not an invitation to share a beverage together in a social setting.

"That's lovely. Is it a new flavour? I just bought myself some peach tea to try. Penny offered me some the other day and I enjoyed the taste."

"No, it's simply black tea." Hallie nodded and dug around her purse for her keys.

"Would you like to come over and…well, chat over tea?" she asked, struggling to shift the weight of her bags to a more even measure. Where were her keys? Suddenly, a bag was lifted off the strange looking pile in her arms. Blinking, Hallie glanced at Sheldon as he walked over to her door.

"Well?" Sheldon asked with a touch of impatience, "Aren't you going to get your keys out now? I didn't grab your bag for no reason."

Flushing, Hallie pulled out her keys (hidden in the front pocket of her handbag for easy access) and slid the key home into the lock. He was right behind her without a care for personal space. Despite what should have been uncomfortable, she found herself more than ok with the minimal space between them.

Her looming shadow followed her through the open door, closing it gently on the way through. Her living room was a little messy. Her knitted blanket was thrown haphazardly over the back of her lounge and some burnt incense hadn't been wiped up. Flushing, she deposited her burden onto the breakfast bench and walked over to the couch, straightening it with downcast eyes.

She heard him place the last bag on the counter and him turning to watch her, however, she had no idea what to say or do. Swallowing, Hallie decided that perhaps turning the kettle on would be a good start; after all, she did offer to make him a cup of tea.

To be honest, she had expected him to say something, rather than let the quiet last as long as it had. Anything would have been good. The lingering scent of lemongrass incense normally would have had him up in arms about fire hazards and fire safety. Glancing up, she noticed he was leaning against the bench, an unusual position for someone who had his particular 'spot' in every place he went to.

Just as she walked past him, his hand shot out, gripping near her elbow. Stopping in surprise, she noticed that she wasn't in pain, but she wasn't escaping his grip any time soon. "Sheldon?" Hallie asked quietly, looking up at him through her lashes. "You're acting strange; I don't know how to handle it.

His frame straightened, however his grasp didn't loosen. It had been asked. That seemingly innocent question held such a weight in both of their lives. Whatever their relationship was before the question was asked was now shattered and reformed with the oncoming answer.

Moving closer to her, Sheldon's hand slipped down to her waist, his other hand landing on the opposite side. He was so _warm_. Keeping her eyes on his, she felt his heart beat thundering beneath her hands as she splayed her fingers on his ridiculous superhero t-shirt. The steady blue gaze had her questioning when she had ever thought he was passionless. It was as though he was tearing down any inner wall she had ever made and seeing right through to the inner core of herself.

"I have made observations," he began. Hallie idly thought his voice sounded deeper. "It occurs to me that, giving into baser needs and wants, offers a…more thorough sense of motivation for times more focused on higher brain function. Leonard has proven such a hypothesis to be true, and, dare I say it, so has Howard with Bernadette." And it was there she was lost. What was he going on about, baser needs and such? "I have tried sleeping with other women…it's remarkably easy after observing how other men achieve their goal to get a woman to go home with them…but that really isn't my point."

"…um," Hallie blinked, "It isn't…?"

Sheldon looked down at her with a quizzical and somehow disappointed look on his face. "No. my point is that, for some reason, you're the only person I see in my mind whenever I am with these random women." To be flattered or not to be flattered, Hallie just couldn't choose. How does one react to a confession phrased in such a way?

If it had been given to her by any other man, she had no doubt that she would have slapped them. However, this was Sheldon…and for Sheldon to admit to his baser needs- and that she starred in those need-Hallie couldn't help but feel somewhat flattered. Of course he would seek to find what variables were necessary for him to come to his conclusion, but whatever way phrased, the whole situation was more than just a little odd.

"What are you saying, exactly?" Hallie asked, her voice a little shaky.

"I'm saying you're on my mind more than you should be, going by everyone else's ratio. I desire you in an equal standing of my Nobel Prize." His impassioned words translated through his actions as he pulled her closer. Sheldon frowned down at her. "By your elevated heartbeat I assume you're either in shock or not adverse to my suggestion. Your body language offers the latter for an answer."

There was one thing she hated more in the world than anything, and that was looking stupid. Her next question, she feared, would make her look just that. "Sheldon, I know I'm nowhere near as smart as you, but I need you to be very clear on what you're offering or asking so I don't get the wrong idea. Are you suggesting that we—"

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

She groaned and rested her head against his chest as Leonard called through the door. "Hallie? The Mail Man did it again!" Sheldon's twitching at the interruption vibrated through him. Sighing, she touched his cheek lightly with her hand before moving towards the apartment door.

"Leonard," she said, slightly cool, "thank you for bringing my mail."

Sheldon's roommate flushed and stuttered, as though he was still not used to talking to attractive women. Hallie couldn't help but want him to just leave. All she wanted was to talk to Sheldon, to figure out exactly what he wanted and what she wanted.

Did she want to be with Sheldon? Did she even want to sleep with him? Both answers swung to a possible yes, but she wanted to really see if the chemistry was there. Flushing and an elevated heartbeat may have been a precursor; however, there was more to relationships of any kind than just that. Her companion loomed behind her, probably bestowing a stare upon his roommate that could kill.

Hallie had only ever seen him truly angry once, shortly after she moved in. Leonard and his friends had forged fake results to an experiment that would have made Sheldon's career. To be honest, her respect for Leonard dropped significantly after she had heard the reasons behind his actions. There were better ways to deal with a hard person to live with than sabotaging their life's work.

"Leonard, the mail man was really confused when I brought up the slip up, apparently he has an OCD habit where he reads everything three times over to make sure it goes into the correct box," Hallie mentioned casually. "Also, Marty from 2B said that he saw you trying to break into a mailbox. You wouldn't happen to be trying to find an excuse to talk to me, now, would you?"

Leonard's mouth was agape as he struggled to find an answer. A weird sounding huff came from behind her. Before she could even blink, Sheldon pushed past her and began pulling Leonard back to their apartment. "It's what he does to talk to beautiful women like you. Frankly I find it more than irritating." With that, they were gone with a slam of their apartment door.

What in the blue blazes happened?

Blinking, Hallie closed her door and leant against it, her hand blindly seeking her phone on a side table. "Penny?" she spoke after dialling a number, "Please come over soon…, and bring a hell of a lot of booze. I have a feeling we're going to need it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, first of all I want to say thank you to everyone who favored the story and who added me to alerts; I was stunned by the huge response I was given. To those who had reviewed, those were really sweet words of encouragement and I'm so glad that you took the time to review. Words cannot describe how much I appreciate it. **

**Second, this chapter here was harder than the first, so I do apologise if its not up to snuff...however, my sister and I hashed and hashed over this until we got Penny's character right. Or at least to the point where we think so. **

**So please enjoy, let me know what you think of it and hopefully I'll have another one up very soon.**

**Thank you!**

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><p>"Did you bring the booze?" Hallie asked a little hollow. Penny looked at her with concern. Her neighbour was normally a cheerful, bubbly person and whatever had just happened obviously was something big.<p>

"Yeah! Here are the bottles," she spoke holding them up high to her head. Penny smiled, looking at Hallie. There was always something about two friends drinking together that cheered her up. It didn't seem to matter the circumstance. Maybe Hallie would find it the same too. "So what's up?"

"I think you'd better come in and sit down...otherwise you're going to go into serious shock." Hallie said with a shaky smile, grabbing the first bottle Penny offered. Good Old Vodka...she shuddered as Hallie took a long draw of the clear liquid. That had to have stung on the way down.

Penny raised an eyebrow slightly "...Okay..." she spoke slowly, drawing out the word as she moved over to the arm of the couch and sat down staring at Hallie "Wow... must be big," she inflected, watching as Hallie drank from the Vodka bottle.

Shuddering, she passed the bottle back to Penny. "If I try to make out with you, I'm sorry...Vodka...or tequila, I'm not sure which, makes me a little friendly." Penny could tell that Hallie almost laughed at her expression. "As for the news...Sheldon tried to seduce me...or at least I think he did. I'm not quite sure."

Penny watched Hallie carefully as she took the bottle from her and took a mouthful before sitting back slightly. "Okay..." she said taking in Hallie's big news. She nearly fell back into the chair as the information finally started to compute. "Seduce?" she gasped feeling the shock that Hallie had predicted.

Her friend flushed furiously. "He was all suave, mainly with the body language, and helped me with my groceries...he also mentioned that he'd been out to clubs, slept with women and only pictured my face the whole time. I could have sworn that he was about to ask me out when Leonard knocked on the door with his pathetic 'the mailman did it again' routine."

Penny frowned as she thought about what was spoken. Opening her mouth to say something, she changed her mind and put the bottle to her mouth. Drinking, she took in a breath as it burnt her throat. "Um... he did what?" she wanted to clarify it, maybe it was the vodka talking, Sheldon seducing? It was ridiculous to even think it. Then there was the whole sleeping around thing. Impossible!

"um...tried to seduce me...I think...all I know was that my heart was pounding, I couldn't think...and well, he did the Texas charm thing without being all that geeky...I think he's been at the internet again." Hallie looked like she was going to cry, however, for what emotion, she just couldn 't peg it.

Penny looked at her and nodded her head, there, that made sense but something else had caught her attention "Heart pounding? You couldn't think?" she said as she got off the couch slowly "You like him?" she said watching Hallie carefully before shouting "YOU LIKE HIM!" Was her friend really contemplating 'entering coitus' with the resident Dr Wack-a-Doodle?

Blue eyes got impossibly wide." Hold up there, darlin', I never said that!" However, the telltale blush spoke of a different reason. Hallie lunged towards the bottle of vodka, her mind trying so hard to erase the last few seconds without success. "I thought he was cute in that beautiful mind way when I first moved in...Then he opened his mouth...I can't still like him after that!" her chest heaved with panic. It just couldn't be true!

Penny smiled wide. "You like Sheldon..." she said as she grabbed the Vodka back "Someone in this world... likes Sheldon," she said as she sat down on the arm of the couch again. Penny's mind was slowly spinning and it wasn't the Vodka doing it.

Hallie frowned. "You know, that whole thing might be one of Sheldon's Bazinga's...he doesn't like to touch, he thinks kissing is gross and to be honest, he isn't the type to go to clubs and sleep with random women," she tried to deny his behaviour. It was so easily seen through, it wasn't funny.

Penny laughed slightly "Yeah, I know... but we aren't talking about Sheldon," she smiled as she watched Hallie try to cover herself up. "I don't understand it... he talks that... science stuff..." she said looking at her trying to decipher how this could work

"I have a doctorate in literature and anthropology," Hallie said plainly, "Intelligence is one of the first things I look for, right after looks and humour...but this doesn't mean I like him, Penny!" groaning, she flopped back on the couch. "Oh who am I kidding; when Sheldon does the Texas thing...I'd bang him like a screen door in a hurricane."

Penny nodded "Oh yeah... I forgot I was surrounded by smart people," she said as she turned around watching Hallie as she confessed. "It's okay, let it all out... he is a lot to handle," she nodded drinking subconsciously when thinking about Sheldon.

Flushing again, Hallie had to confess, "I caught him the other night, in that suit you bought him, the black one...however, and he didn't have the jacket on and had the shirt sleeves rolled up. His hands are so long and his arms...! It kind of reminded me how long it's been since I had hands on me. Not to mention how...delectable he looked just in the pants and dress shirt. Plaid really doesn't do it for him."

Penny frowned as she jumped up from the couch "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop there! I don't want to think about that!" she said shivering. "Oh gods, think of Leonard, think of Leonard!" she repeated to herself rubbing her temples and closing her eyes shut.

Hallie blinked. "Ok, I think I may have missed this social lesson, but didn't you just ask me to let it all out?"

Penny nodded. "I didn't mean that... or if that... less words that would make Sheldon look less like sex... not good sex mind you..." she shivered.

Hallie had to ponder for a moment. "You know...with his attention to detail and need to succeed above and beyond all standards...he might actually be amazing at sex..."

Penny laughed aloud before speaking "You know he has a thing about germs?" she said looking at her shaking her head before sitting down "But hey, if you're into him... go for it... you might actually be good for him," she nodded.

It was there that Hallie had a majority of her doubts. "While I have a few OCD habits, I doubt Sheldon and I would be good for one another, for one, he sneers at any kind of arts degree, and that's what I have, two he's not exactly into freedom of emotions like I am, and three, don't you think he'd drive me insane within the first two weeks?"


End file.
